I threw my annual holiday/birthday party (Rob told me, happy birthmas!) yesterday. It went really well. It was smaller than usual - maybe 15 people. But it turned out to be one of those parties that becomes intimate, and you can actually sit down and talk to people. I was still in my usual hostess mode, running around doing things and replenishing food and being a social butterfly so that I wasn't neglecting anyone in particular. But I did sit a few times. :)

This year I did something different - I decided to have the party be about trimming the tree instead of putting it up beforehand. Everyone was really great about helping me with this - I had meant to get the tree assembled ahead of time so the annoying part would be done with, but I didn't get time to do it. Everyone pitched in and got it done, and Bill did the honors with the tree topper.

I didn't take many pictures, and the ones I took were absolute crap. But here they are anyways:


hsarik wearing tree antlers

My gardenia is all abloom at the moment, so I took some photos of it. It smells SO GOOD.



I also had some photos that I haven't managed to post recently. One is that I saw my first Durham Pedicab outside of Bull McCabe's a couple of weeks ago:



Finally, I've taken pictures of all the artwork I've done over the years that's currently hanging in my house. I'm not a great artist by any stretch, but these pieces still mean something to me. I need to take another class sometime soon.

Thanks to Joe for reminding me about the old cartoon called The Ant and The Aardvark. I loved this cartoon, although I couldn't quote you anything from it. I found The DePatie-Freleng Web Site, which has some screen shots from the series, and the following one just made me smile:



I always liked the Aardvark, even if he rarely bested the Ant. And finding some humor out of my situation from yesterday is helping me stop feeling like there are ants crawling all over me, which has still persisted since yesterday, but is happening less frequently.

I had a very disturbing experience this morning. I should preface this by saying that I *HATE* ants, my earliest memory is of sitting on a fire ant colony at age three and having to be taken to the emergency room, and that there's no other living being on earth that I would rather destroy, but that in general I disagree with pesticides and killing things with nervous systems unless you're planning to eat them.

If ants make you squick as much as they do me, you may not want to read this post.

I started having an ant problem in my kitchen maybe three weeks ago. We had been having a drought, and I know that one of the primary motivations for ants to enter a house is for them to find a source of water. So I wasn't too surprised to see them around the kitchen, primarily near the sink and the aquarium I keep on the counter, since the aquarium sweats and it tends to pool a little on the counter. I bought some ant traps, both indoor ones and outdoor ones, but I couldn't tell where the ants were getting in, so I didn't use the outdoor ones.

A couple of days after my first sighting of the ants, I had a couple of church friends come to my house to make a meal for the Interfaith Hospitality Network, a program that houses a homeless family for a week at a time at a different church in the area. One of the ladies apparently didn't put the lid back on the sugar properly, and a few days later, my Dad who was visiting pointed out that the ants had gotten into it and were enjoying the free eats. At this point, the ant problem had significantly worsened. The ant traps did seem to be killing off a bunch of them, but they didn't seem to be getting any fewer - in fact, they were increasing. I had thrown out the sugar, so I was hoping that would help, but I began to worry that the ant traps were actually drawing more in than they were killing. And I still couldn't tell how they were getting in.

I had seen a few scouter ants in random places like the bathroom and the living room, and I was getting increasingly worried, and feeling like it was now time to call an exterminator - and hating pesticides, I was loath to do this. Then yesterday, while I was making some dinner, I opened the cabinet where I keep the salt, and found a huge number of ants in there. I emptied the cabinet and was trying to find out what they'd gotten into, but I couldn't see anything that they'd invaded or that would tempt them there. I thought perhaps the vanilla, but it was firmly sealed and there were no ants around the top of it, just the base. I killed them all with a sponge and wiped it clean, and threw out a few possible things like the corn meal even though there were no signs of infestation within it, just to be safe. Also, there were ants now hovering around the sink in areas which didn't appear to be wet, and there were still a number of them sipping from the trickle of water at the base of the aquarium. I set out a couple more ant traps, with little hope that this was going to work.

Today and tomorrow are my days to do some deep spring cleaning, since I'm having folks over to watch Battlestar Galactica tomorrow night. I got up early, and was starting with my first task, which was to refill the large aquarium in my hallway and move the fish from the aquarium in the kitchen to it. I had had a fungus problem in the big tank which necessitated moving the angel fish that usually lives there into the smaller tank in the kitchen while I purged the tank for a while. So, I cleaned out and filled up the big tank, then started moving the fish over to it. To do this, I had to remove the top and the filter, heater, and air pump so that I could get the big net inside to retrieve the angel fish. I was busy doing all this when I noticed that the ants that gather at the front of the aquarium had increased - I thought because the tank was now dripping from where the parts had been inside the water.

But oh no. It was far worse than that.

I finished moving the fish and was starting to disassemble the tank - I had never liked that the tank would sweat and wanted to remove at least that lure for the ants. To my horror, as I was disassembling it, I realized that the aquarium wasn't the lure for the ants - it was their HOME.



I immediately realized that the ants were coming out from under the aquarium in increasingly staggering numbers, and that the colony was actually living under the tank. I was increasingly horrified and repulsed and generally squicked, but I had to do something fast. It took me a while to locate the general insect Raid, and then I grabbed my camera and started shooting pictures of the whole mess. Click on the photo above for all the disgusting details, if you can handle it.

I hate to use pesticides at all, but more importantly, not on the kitchen counters, and I was also worried about the cats being around the poison. Chester tried to investigate at one point but I yelled at her pretty badly, and the cats have pretty much gone into hiding at this point. I think there may have been a million ants under there, and also under the Lazy Susan that holds my vitamins that sits right next to the tank. So the ants that were in the salt cabinet were clearly looking to colonize further, and I'm not sure that I won't find other hide-outs in the kitchen. I'll have to search through the cupboards today and see if there's anything else that needs to be killed. I sprayed so much poison on the aquarium that I'm going to have to throw it out - fish are very, very sensitive to toxins. And my kitchen reeks of Raid.

I'm feeling very highly creeped-out right now, and every couple of minutes I feel like there are ants crawling on my skin. This has not put me in a good mood for all the tasks I had myself lined up to do today, and I'm seriously considering canceling the party tomorrow. If for no other reason than that it might be a bad idea to do any cooking or eat anything in the kitchen for a few days.

Talk about your bad feng shui. I can't think of a worse shar chi situation.

I haven't posted any pictured of my kitties yet, so I thought I'd remedy that today. I can never seem to get good shots of them - Zoot in particular - because they interact with me too much instead of posing for the camera. In any case, here are my babies:




Zoot, my most special precious baby girl. She's 11 years old, and has periodic health issues which may or may not be FIP-related - the vets always say the tests are inconclusive. Zootie is a complete spoiled brat, highly temperamental, pretends to be friendly to strangers and then turns around and scratches them, has a serious pot belly happening, and in most other ways resembles me in the extreme. She's my soulmate kitty.




Chester is indeed female, as are most calicos (except in Saudi Arabia, where I'm told male calicos are unusually frequent.) She's 14 years old, and a very sweet kitty. She will allow you to pet her if she approaches you first, but you must be very respectful. She's sort of the red-headed stepchild in this family, and she comes second in the pecking order at the food bowl. But she's a very good kitty. She always knows when I'm upset and comes and sits on my lap.

Unrelated picture of a Christmas present my Mom gave me:




A drawing of the front of Chick and Ruth's Deli in Annapolis, MD, done by a local artist whose signature I can't read. Chick and Ruth's is an authentic deli with awesome reubens, chocolate malts, and free pickles on the table. I used to hang out there a lot in high school. It's one of the few places in the downtown historic district that still remains from my high school days, aside from the pubs and Oceans II records.

Update: I'm now linking to Chick and Ruth's website, since Joe rightfully complained. And it turns out that they spell it "Delly" - not sure why I never noticed that before.

So, after the lovely holiday party, Mom and I stayed up talking till after midnight. We trundled off to bed, planning to sleep in as late as we wanted. Well, that didn't happen.

At 5:00 this morning, the fire alarm went off. After a moment of waking up and figuring out what it must be, I went out into the hall, where Mel and Mom were also coming out of their bedroom. We fumbled down the steps in our half-asleep state, and Mel turned off the alarm. I could smell something that seemed like burning food, but I couldn't figure out where it was. Mom then discovered that the two candles that I had lit earlier in the evening in the bathroom were still burning - I hadn't seen them to put them out because the bathroom door was shut.

So we put those out and re-enabled the alarm, and went back to bed. In the morning, I could see that the ceiling in the bathroom had been stained with smoke - there really was an imminent blaze in there.

But that's not all.

After getting a couple more hours sleep this morning, Mel made breakfast for us - scrambled eggs, bacon, and toasted bagels. Mom put my bagel in the toaster oven and headed upstairs for something. I was eating my scrambled eggs, when I saw that something in the toaster had caught on fire, and was burning really high. I pointed and said "Fire!" Mel went to the toaster and started blowing on it to put it out, but it didn't go out easily. Mom came back in in time to see it finally die down. Mel unplugged the toaster and, once it had cooled off, cleaned out the crumb pan, which is where the fire had started. Mom said they hadn't used the toaster in quite a while, so it was probably feeling angry and petulant.

These things come in threes, so I think we're going to be extra-specially careful with flame tonight.

Every year, Mom throws a holiday party for her friends. It usually occurs on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, but this year it was on the 23rd. Mel (my stepdad) had one of his sons and two grandsons over, as well, and there were in total about 6 youngsters, 3 college-age folks, and maybe 20 or more adults in attendance. We had a lovely time, as usual, and I got to catch up with several family friends that I hadn't seen in a long time.

I left my digital camera at home, so I ended up using Mom's. Afterwards, it turns out the flash wasn't going off and the photos were too dark, or terribly blurry. I'm not the best of photographers in most circumstances, anyways, especially of people. So only a few turned out well, and most of those were of objects.

In any case, here's a gallery of the night, which includes shots of Chistmasy items that Mom has made over the years, including embroidered ornaments and such.

Well, it finally came together. What a wonderful birthday present - somebody up there must like me. The furniture is in place:



This has caused a cascade effect of furniture movement in my house which I'll have to complete tomorrow. Right now, I'm going to eat at Magnolia Grill (since they aren't open for my birthday tomorrow.)

Yay!! Good birthday. :)

... who put their Christmas tree up on Thanksgiving weekend. Yes, I have succumbed to the hype.




I love my angel tree topper:




Technically, decorating this early for Christmas *is* against my religion... it's not even close to the end of Advent. Bad, bad me.


I haven't done the porch yet - that will have to wait til next weekend. I'll put up white icicle lights and a moravian star over the doorway. I like white lights outside, but for the tree I like to have colors. It also has some random blinky-lights, but not anything too busy. If I could, I'd use the big old-fashined bulbs with individual twinklers like I had as a kid. They used to blink so nicely.

My birthday's not for another three weeks, but this week I am going to see in person and probably buy a nice set of bedroom furniture that's being sold on my neighborhood list. Here's a description and some pictures:

1920s 3-PIECE MATCHING BEDROOM SUITE including full-size bedframe, chest-of-drawers, & vanity; all in pecan stained veneer with hand rubbed Dutch oil finish and "waterfall" edge; lovingly restored by Durham artist Aaron Michael Moore III.

Very good condition "Hollywood" VANITY has 4 drawers (2 are deep) & dramatic 36" round attached mirror; very good condition CHEST-OF-DRAWERS with 4 drawers (2 are deep); fair condition BEDFRAME fits full-sized mattress - patch of missing veneer at the headboard (pictures available) otherwise structurally sound.

Coordinating WARDROBE/SECRETARY UNIT: Deco-patterned veneer work stained pecan with hand rubbed Dutch oil finish and "waterfall" edge; ½ wardrobe closet, ½ set of 2 drawers + pulldown secretary with hole drilled through back wall to accommodate laptop computer cord; "secret" storage space underneath drawers in base of unit; unique functional piece for small homes with limited storage space.

I've been wanting some nice bedroom furniture for a while now, and I'm so glad to have finally found some, and at a bargain price! I love anything Art Deco, so this is pretty awesome. :) Wish me luck in getting and moving the pieces!

Update: I went to see the furniture last night, and it's beautiful! I need to go to the bank today to get a cashier's check to pay for it, and I need to arrange to get it moved. I've decided to hire professionals, because it's too delicate to try to do myself or make my friends deal with. In any case, this is a very special birthday treat. :)

Note: I had pictures of the furniture here at one point, but now that it's actually in my house, you can see the in situ pictures in this post.

I am not good at yard work. At all. I have a hard time distinguishing between weeds and flowers, I don't know when the right time to mulch, prune, or fertilize is, I killed a major bush out in my front yard this year by failing to water it well, and in general my yard looks like crap. Which is why I have to celebrate days like today when I do something productive in the yard:



Compared to last week's photo, I'm quite pleased with my raking productivity. Tomorrow I'll do the front lawn.

The little old lady who used to own my house clearly cared a great deal about the yard. There are enormous butterfly bushes, a Rose of Sharon, some mountain laurels, azaleas all over the place, and beautiful purple irises. But she planted surprisingly few bulbs. I should go get some of those tomorrow and plant them in the yard - I love crocuses and daffodils and tulips. I understand now is the time to plant them.

Said little old lady also left me a ton of yard ornaments, most of which are in decrepit condition and not in my style. I decided early on that I would not remove them, seeing as the lady clearly cared about her yard so much. Instead, I'm going to replace them slowly over time with things more to my taste. See the flickr stream for a couple of examples of what I mean.

I did replace a couple of beat-up lighthouse-shaped bird feeders in my front yard with a couple of decorated gourds turned into birdhouses. Some birds moved right in, too, which made me happy. Maybe I'll get the hang of this yard maintenance stuff eventually.

This is my yard after the rainy night we've had. I was planning to rake today, but I think I'll have to wait for things to dry out a little.

So, I haven't stepped on the scales for a while, which means my weight loss goal is in serious jeopardy, if it's even possible at all at this point. Sigh. Where has my willpower gone?

I threw a very successful non-costume Halloween party this year, and we had several good pumpkins from it. I've added them to a gallery here:



In other news, I gave a presentation at work yesterday that seemed to go pretty well. I was terribly nervous about it, but apparently it didn't show. It's been a while since I presented anything, and I'm way out of practice. I kept getting tongue-tied. In any case, it's nice to have that over and done with.

I'll be working at the Community Kitchen on Saturday, something I do once a month with my church. I'm one of two co-leads for the group, and this month we've been having trouble recruiting folks, as most of our regulars seem to be out of town or otherwise engaged. So I extended the plea for volunteers to a few friends, and a couple of them have come through for me, which is really nice. It'll be fun to visit with my (real? That's a terrible way to put it...) friends while doing the community service.

In general, life is pretty good - I seem to be pretty content these days.